by Ray Martin
Our homes are these magical little culture breeding environments. Oh, not just bacteria…with six kids and two dogs, our house is crawling with nastiness, but that’s not what I’m referring to. Today we’re going to talk about Micro-Churches.
There was this National Study of Youth & Religion that started back in the 90’s and I’ve been watching a video recently by Christian Smith and Justin Bartkus who conducted the research and interviews and they describe how household members process pieces of moral lessons and media and faith and form a little micro-culture that shapes the future of the children raised there. The family then in turn brings their culture out into the community where they have an influence of the culture there. So good or bad, our homes are little culture shaping factories.
This is why the Vatican II Council coined the phrase “domestic church” in reference to our homes. They said that parents should be the example and first teachers of the faith to their kids encouraging them to discover their vocation or calling in life. Now we’re used to hearing people say that “God has a plan for us” and it’s in the home where we learn how to discern what that mission is.
There’s a beautiful quote by Pope Francis on our day to day faith life. He said, “It is important to have a daily relationship with [God], to listen to him in silence before the Tabernacle and deep within ourselves, to speak with him, to draw near to the sacraments. Having this familiar relationship with the Lord is like keeping the window of our lives open so that he can make us hear his voice and hear what he wants us to do.” It’s not realistic to think that we can develop this relationship with God on a daily basis at Church. It’s got to be percolating at home too.
Catholic Parenting Goal
So, what’s the goal of Catholic parenting? Many would say it’s helping our kids and spouses become saints. Which is fine, but what does that really look like? I’m finding that it is up to us as parents to help teach our kids how to hear God’s voice and discern what He wants them to do with their life, which then results in their path to sainthood.
How do we do that? Well that Vatican II Council said that we need to have a “vocational approach to life”. That’s going to look much different and counter-cultural than most of our neighbors. It requires being authentic in hearing God’s voice and being open to the things that will present themselves to us when we follow God’s will. Frankly, it means that we as parents have to show our children a faith life where love and grace is the foundation that’s going to satisfy the desire of their hearts, and that will cause people in our lives to notice that there is something different about us, something meaningful, something joyful. And in doing that that, our families can change the world.
What does success look like? We will be able to look back and know that we did it right when our kids recognize that being a devoted disciple of Jesus as a Catholic is meaningful and even necessary to living a life of joy and fulfillment.
Here To Help
That study I mentioned also stated that parents are the “most dominant influencers” in the culture of a household, that magical mini-culture developing organism. They said that whatever level of faith the parents have forms kind of a glass ceiling and the children of that home usually don’t go beyond that level of commitment to their faith.
We at Ascension are here to help you be successful in your mission of raising future saints who know God’s voice and follow His direction for their life, but you have to be the director, the one who says, “we’re going to Mass this weekend”, or “how about I run you over to youth group and then I’d love to hear what you thought about it?”
Nothing we do at the Parish matters without your endorsement. So, here’s what we’re doing at the Family Life office to help equip you to be successful. We are studying resources on parenting and marriage to share with you. We understand the craziness of daily life, but we’re also highly aware of the efficient ways that we can receive and share information. So all that you need to do is plug in with us.
How To Connect
Subscribe to our kcascension YouTube channel, follow us on Facebook or Twitter and you’ll find our videos that we will be posting. We will recap the information that we’re sharing in a blog post on kcascension.org and in our weekly bulletin that you can pick up after Mass on the weekends. Please share this stuff! Share it with your friends online, grab an extra bulletin and give to a fellow parent to talk about.
Ultimately, we want to offer you something meaningful, something valuable, something that actually works, so that you can more intentionally shape the culture brewing in your home life and in return, that faith shared by your family will bless our Parish because of the love of Christ that you are pouring back into the culture our community and the world. We look forward to seeing you again here soon!
Sources: Love is Our Mission, National Study of Youth and Religion by Christian Smith and Justin Bartkus, and Discovering God Together by Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcek.